Bernard Berenson moved to Florence in 1900, his study and work in Italian Renaissnace art supported by his patron, Isabella Stuart Gardner of Boston. Over the course of the following years, Berenson procured on her behalf many of the works of art now displayed in the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum in Boston. The villa which Berenson purchased as his home was Villa I Tatti. Upon his death, this was left to Harvard Univeristy, which maintains it as a reserach center for the study of Italian Renaissance art.

Personal life

Berenson was born Bernhard Valvrojenski in Butrimonys (now in Alytus district of Lithuania) to a Jewish family. They emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts from the Vilna Governorate of the Russian Empire in 1875, whereupon the family name was changed to "Berenson." The family was thought to be related to Isaac Abrabanel.[citation needed]

He attended the Boston University College of Liberal Arts as a freshman during 1883-84, but, unable to obtain instruction in Sanskrit from that institution, transferred to Harvard University for his sophomore year.[1] He graduated from Harvard and married Mary Smith, who became a notable art historian in her own right. Mary was the sister of Logan Pearsall Smith and of Alys Pearsall Smith, the first wife of Bertrand Russell. Mary had previously been married to barrister Frank Costelloe. Bernard Berenson was also involved in a long relationship with Belle da Costa Greene. Samuels (1987) mentions Mary's "reluctant acceptance (at times)" of this relationship.

Among his more surprising friendships was a long one with the American writer Ray Bradbury, who wrote about their friendship in The Wall Street Journal and in his book of essays, Yestermorrow. He was also a close friend and admirer of Natalie Barney.[citation needed]

His great-great-niece, Marisa Berenson, is an actress. Her sister, Berry Berenson, was an actress/photographer, and the wife of actor Anthony Perkins. Berry died in the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City.

Professional life

Among US collectors of the early 1900s, Berenson was regarded as the pre-eminent authority on Renaissance art. His verdict of authenticity increased a painting's value. While his approach remained controversial among European art historians and connoisseurs, he played a pivotal role as an advisor to several important American art collectors, such as Isabella Stewart Gardner, who needed help in navigating the complex and treacherous market of newly fashionable Renaissance art. In this respect Berenson's influence was enormous, while his 5% commission made him a wealthy man. Starting with his The Venetian Painters of the Renaissance with an Index to their Works (1894), his mix of connoisseurship and systematic approach proved immensely successful. In 1895 his Lorenzo Lotto, an Essay on Constructive Art Criticism won wide critical acclaim, notably by Heinrich Wölfflin. It was quickly followed by The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance (1896), that was lauded by William James for its innovative application of "elementary psychological categories to the interpretation of higher art". In 1897 Berenson added another work to his series of scholarly yet handy guides publishing The Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance. After that he devoted six years of pioneering work to what is widely regarded as his deepest and most substantial book, The Drawings of the Florentine Painters, which was published in 1903. In 1907 he published his The North Italian Painters of the Renaissance, where he expressed a devastating and still controversial judgement of Mannerist art, which may be related to his love for Classicism and his professed distaste for Modern Art. His early works were later integrated in his most famous book, The Italian Painters of the Renaissance (1930), which was widely translated and reprinted. He also published two volumes of journals, "Rumor and Reflection" and "Sunset and Twilight". He is also the author of Aesthetics and History and Sketch for a Self-portrait. His beautiful residence in Settignano near Florence, which has been called 'I Tatti' since at least the 17th century, is now the Harvard Center for Renaissance Studies. It houses his art collection and his personal library of books on art history and humanism, which Berenson regarded as his most enduring legacy. A spirited portrait of daily life at the Berenson "court" at I Tatti during the 1920s may be found in Sir Kenneth Clark's 1974 memoir, Another Part of the Wood. 'During WW2, barely tolerated by the Fascist authorities and, later on, by their German masters, Berenson remained at "I Tatti". When the frontline reached it at the end of the summer of 1944 he wrote in his diary, "Our hillside happens to lie between the principal line of German retreat along the Via Bolognese and a side road...We are at the heart of the German rearguard action, and seriously exposed.". Remarkably, under his supervision the villa remained unharmed. Also unharmed was the bulk of his collections, which had been moved to a villa at Careggi. However, Berenson's Florence apartment in the Borgo San Jacopo was destroyed with some of its precious contents during the German retreat from Florence [2] . Another memoir with personal reminiscences and photographs of Berenson's life in Italy before and after the war is Kinta Beevor's "A Tuscan Childhood" [New York: Vintage Books, 2000; c.1993].
The Allendale Nativity, which Berenson attributed to Titian.

Through a secret agreement in 1912, Berenson enjoyed a close relationship with Joseph Duveen, the period's most influential art dealer, who often relied heavily on Berenson's opinion to complete sales of works to prominent collectors who lacked knowledge of the field. Berenson was quiet and deliberating by nature, which sometimes caused friction between him and the boisterous Duveen. Their relationship ended on bad terms in 1937 after a dispute over a painting, the Allendale Nativity (a.k.a. the Adoration of the Shepherds now at the National Gallery in Washington), intended for the collection of Samuel H. Kress. Duveen was selling it as a Giorgione, but Berenson believed it to be an early Titian. The painting is now widely considered to be a Giorgione. Beside assisting Duveen, Berenson also consulted for other important art dealerships, such as London's Colnaghi and, after his breakup with Duveen, New York's Wildenstein.

In 1923, Berenson was called to give expert witness in a famous case brought by Andrée Hahn against Duveen. In 1920 Hahn wanted to sell a painting[3] that she believed to be a version of Leonardo's La belle ferronnière and whose authorship is still debated. Duveen publicly rejected Hahn's Leonardo attribution of the painting, which he had never seen. Consequently, Hahn sued him. In 1923 Hahn's painting was brought to Paris to be compared with the Louvre version. Duveen mustered Berenson's and other experts' support for his opinion, dismissing Hahn's painting as a copy. At the trial in New York in 1929, where the expert witnesses did not appear, the jury was not convinced by Berenson's Paris testimony, in part because, while under cross-examination there, he had been unable to recall the medium on which the picture was painted. It was also revealed that Berenson, as well as other experts who had testified in Paris, such as Roger Fry and Sir Charles Holmes, had previously provided paid expertises to Duveen. While Duveen, after a split verdict, ended up settling out of court with Hahn, the whole story damaged Berenson's reputation.

Berenson died at age 94 in Settignano, Italy.

As Renaissance scholarship has evolved, a number of Berenson's attributions are now believed to be incorrect. There is also ongoing speculation as to whether some of these misattributions were deliberate, since Berenson often had a considerable financial stake in the matter. Due to the strong subjective element in connoisseurship, such accusations remain hard to either disprove or substantiate.

==Correspondence

2006 saw the publication of the noted British historian Hugh Trevor-Roper's letters to Berenson in the period 1947-1960, in a book entitled Letters from Oxford: Hugh Trevor-Roper to Bernard Berenson, edited by Richard Davenport-Hines, published by Weidenfeld & Nicholson.

==Works

* * Venetian Painters of the Renaissance (1894)

• * Lorenzo Lotto: An Essay in Constructive Art Criticism (1895)
• * Florentine Painters of the Renaissance (1896)
• * Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance (1897)
• * The Sense of Quality: Study and Criticism of Italian Art (1901; second series, 1902)
• * The Drawings of the Florentine Painters (1903), his masterpiece[citation needed]
• * North Italian Painters of the Renaissance (1907)
• * A Sienese Painter of the Franciscan Legend (1910)
• * Venetian Painting in America: The Fifteenth Century (New York, 1916)
• * Essays in the Study of Sienese Painting (New York, 1918)
• * The Italian Painters Of The Renaissance (1952)London & New York Phaidon Publishers Inc.
• * Rumor and Reflection (New York, 1952)
• * Seeing and Knowing New York Graphic Society, Ltd., (1953)
• * The Passionate Sightseer (New York, 1960)
• * Sunset and Twilight (New York, 1963)

Most of his books were published in the United States and went through many editions.

References

1. ^ Boston University College of Liberal Arts Class o
http://www.lamalcontenta.com/index.php/en/life-in-villa/life-in-vil...

ברנרד ברנסון

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לידה 14 ביוני 1865 (יוליאני) פטירה 6 באוקטובר 1959 (בגיל 94) פירנצה, איטליה מדינה ארצות הברית, האימפריה הרוסית מקום מגורים Villa I Tatti השכלה אוניברסיטת הרווארד אוניברסיטת בוסטון מקצוע היסטוריון אמנות, היסטוריון, סופר, מבקר אמנות, connoisseur, אספן אמנות בן/בת זוג Mary Berenson פרסים והוקרה עמית האקדמיה האמריקאית לאמנויות ולמדעים

ברנרד ברנסון (באנגלית: Bernard Berenson;‏ 13 ביוני 1866, בוטרימוניס, היום היא חלק מוילנה, ליטא – 26 באוקטובר 1959, פירנצה) היה אספן אמנות אמריקאי ממוצא יהודי והיסטוריון של האמנות, מן הראשונים שהתמחו ברנסאנס.

תוכן עניינים 1 חייו 2 חייו המקצועיים 3 וילה א טאטי 4 כתביו 5 לקריאה נוספת 6 קישורים חיצוניים 7 הערות שוליים

חייו ברנסון נולד כברנרד ולורוינסקי (Bernhard Valvrojenski) בעיירה בוטרימוניס (ביידיש: בוטרימאנץ או באלטרעמאנץ) למשפחה יהודית. המשפחה היגרה ב-1875 ממחוז וילנה לבוסטון מסצ'וסטס ושינתה את שם המשפחה לברנסון. ברנסון התנצר ב-1885 ונעשה אפיסקופלי[1]. מאוחר יותר הוא המיר את דתו לקתוליות בזמן שחי באיטליה[2][3][4].

בתחילה למד באוניברסיטת בוסטון אבל מכיוון שלא קיבל שם הדרכה בסנסקריט עבר לאוניברסיטת הרווארד להמשך הלימודים[5]. הוא סיים את הלימודים ויצא למסעות באירופה בחיפוש אחר יצירות אמנות עבור איזבלה סטיוארט גרדנר. באירופה הכיר את מרי סמית קוסטלו (Mary Smith Costelloe) שהייתה כבר נשואה ואם לשני ילדים. הם חיו יחד עשר שנים עד מות בעלה של מרי ואז מיסדו את הקשר בצורה חוקית. תנאי חייהם באותה תקופה היו קשים משום שרק בודדים מבין מכריהם קיבלו את הקשר הזה. מ-1900 חי הזוג בוילה אי טאטי (I Tatti) ליד פירנצה שהיה ביתו במשך רוב חייו. בית זה הוא מרכז למחקרי הרנסאנס של אוניברסיטת הרוורד. הוא מאחסן את אוסף האמנות שלו ואת ספרייתו הפרטית של ספרים על תולדות האמנות ועל הומניזם אותו ראה ברנסון כמורשת החשובה ביותר שלו. בזמן מלחמת העולם השנייה נשאר ברנסון באי טאטי אף על פי שהשלטון הפשיסטי ואחרי כן אדוניהם הגרמנים השלימו בקושי עם קיומו שם. כאשר החזית התקרבה אליו בסוף קיץ 1944 הוא כתב ביומנו: "צלע הגבעה שלנו שוכן בין הקו המרכזי של נסיגת הגרמנים לאורך דרך בולוניה ודרך צדדית ... אנחנו נמצאים בלב קו ההגנה הגרמני על עורפם וחשופים בצורה חמורה ביותר". הוילה לא נפגעה וכן לא נפגעו הספרים שהועברו לוילה אחרת בקארג'י (Careggi). אבל דירתו של ברנסון בפירנצה נהרסה עם חלק מהפריטים היקרים שהיו בה בזמן הנסיגה הגרמנית מפירנצה[6].

חייו המקצועיים

הציור הערצת הרועים שברנסון ייחס אותו לטיציאן בין אספני אמנות אמריקאים בתחילת המאה העשרים נחשב ברנסון כסמכות העליונה לאמנות הרנסאנס. פסק הדין שלו לגבי אותנטיות של יצירה העלתה את ערך הציור. בשעה שגישתו הייתה במחלוקת בקרב היסטוריונים אירופאים של האמנות הוא מילא תפקיד מרכזי כיועץ לכמה אספנים, כמו איזבלה סטיוארט גרדנר שהייתה זקוקה לעזרה במציאת דרכה בשוק האופנתי החדש של אמנות הרנסאנס. במובן זה הייתה השפעתו של ברנסון עצומה. הוא התחיל בפרסום ספרו The Venetian Painters of the Renaissance with an Index to their Works (הציירים הוונציאניים בתקופת הרנסאנס עם מפתח ליצירותיהם), 1894. התמהיל של ידע וגישה שיטתית הוכיח עצמו כמוצלח במיוחד. ב-1895 זכה ספרו לורנצו לוטו, מאמר על ביקורת אמנות בונה (Lorenzo Lotto, an essay on Constructive Art Criticism) לשבחים מצד הביקורת, במיוחד על ידי היינריך ולפלין. זמן לא רב אחרי כן פרסם את The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance (הציירים הפלורנטינים בתקופת הרנסאנס), 1896 שזכה לשבחיו של ויליאם ג'יימס על היישום החדשני של קטגוריות פסיכולוגיות יסודיות בפרשנות אמנות". ב-1897 פרסם ברנסון עוד חיבור בסדרת כתביו הלמדניים אך שימושיים: The Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance (הציירים האיטלקיים המרכזיים בתקופת הרנסאנס). לאחר מכן הקדיש שש שנים למחקר שנחשב על ידי רבים לספרו העיקרי והמעמיק ביותר The Drawings of the Florentine Painters (ציוריהם של הציירים הפלורנטינים) שיצא ב-1903.

ב-1907 פרסם את ספרו The North Italian Painters of the Renaissance (הציירים הצפון איטלקים בתקופת הרנסאנס) שבו שפט בחומרה רבה את האמנות המייריסטית, אך דעתו זו הייתה נתונה במחלוקת. דעתו מוסברת בכך שאהב את הקלאסיציזם וסלידתו מאמנות מודרנית. כתביו המוקדמים שולבו, מאוחר יותר, בספרו המפורסם ביותר The Italian Painters of the Renaissance (הציירים האיטלקים בתקופת הרנסאנס), 1930 שתורגם לשפות רבות.

לברנסון היה הסכם חשאי מ-1912 עם ג'וזף דווין (Joseph Duveen) שהיה אחד מחשובי סוחרי האמנות באותו זמן. הוא הסתמך רבות על דעתו של ברנסון כדי להשלים עסקות לאספנים בולטים שהיה חסר להם ידע בתחום. יחסיהם הסתיימו במריבה ב-1937 אחרי ויכוח על ציור – הלידה באלנדייל (הערצת הרועים - Adoration of the Shepherds שנמצאת היום בגלריה הלאומית לאמנויות בוושינגטון די. סי.). התמונה הייתה מיועדת לאוסף של סמואל קרס (Samuel Kress). דווין מכר אותה כתמונה של ג'ורג'ונה אבל ברנסון סבר שהיא תמונה מוקדמת של טיציאן. היום רואים בציור יצירה של ג'ורג'ונה. אחרי הסכסוך ביניהם היה ברנסון פעיל בייעוץ לאספנים אחרים.

וילה א טאטי

וילה אי טאטי בפירנצה מ-1890 עד 1921 קנה ברנסון מסוחרים ציורים, ברוב המקרים, במחירים נמוכים. הציורים הגיעו מכנסיות, מנזרים וארמונות שונים. ב-1900 עבר ברנסון להתגורר בוילה ושם הוא התגורר עד מותו ב-1959.

האוסף שלו מראה חתך רוחב של האמנות הדתית באיטליה מהמאה ה-12 עד הרנסאנס. ברנסון לא ארגן את האוסף על פי נקודת מבט היסטורית או לפי נושאים כפי שמקובל במוזיאונים כי אם רק לפי עקרונות אסתטיים. ההעמדה בחללים ההיסטוריים של הוילה שנקבעה על ידי טעמו של בעל ידע משקפת את אישיותו של האספן. משום שברנסון מכר תמונות לעיתים רחוקות הן נשארו תמיד במקומן ורובן נשמרו במצב מעולה.

בצוואתו הוא ציווה את הוילה, כולל אוסף האמנות שבה, את ספרייתו ואת אוסף הצילומים המקיף שלו לאוניברסיטת הרוורד. על פי צוואתו על הרוורד להקים בוילה מרכז למחקר עבור חוקרים צעירים מכל העולם שיאפשר להם להמשיך במחקרם במדעי הרוח, לקדם אותם ולהעמיקם. כיום לומדים במקום כל שנה בין 12 ל-15 תלמידים לפוסט-דוקטורט מרחבי העולם. בנוסף מוזמנים למקום, באופן קבוע, חוקרים איטלקים צעירים.

כתביו Venetian Painters of the Renaissance (1894) Lorenzo Lotto: An Essay in Constructive Art Criticism (1895) Florentine Painters of the Renaissance (1896) Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance (1897) The Sense of Quality: Study and Criticism of Italian Art (1901; second series, 1902) The Drawings of the Florentine Painters (1903), his North Italian Painters of the Renaissance (1907) A Sienese Painter of the Franciscan Legend (1910) Venetian Painting in America: The Fifteenth Century (New York, 1916) Essays in the Study of Sienese Painting (New York, 1918) Aesthetics, ethics and history in the arts of visual representation (Estetica, Etica e Storia nelle Arti della Rappresentazione Visiva) (1948) The Italian Painters Of The Renaissance (1952) Rumor and Reflection (New York, 1952) Seeing and Knowing New York Graphic Society, Ltd., (1953) The Passionate Sightseer (New York, 1960) Sunset and Twilight (New York, 1963) לקריאה נוספת Kenneth Clark (1974) Another Part of the Wood Ernest Samuels (1979) Bernard Berenson: The Making of a Connoisseur Ernest Samuels (1987) Bernard Berenson: The Making of a Legend Colin Simpson (1986) Artful Partners: Bernard Berenson and Joseph Duveen Mary Ann Calo (1994) Bernard Berenson and the Twentieth Century John Pope-Hennessy (1988) "Bernard Berenson" in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, 34. William Weaver (1997) A Legacy of Excellence: The Story of Villa I Tatti Simon Gray's play The Old Masters (2004), in which Berenson is a leading character Cynthia Saltzman (2008) Old Masters New World: America's Raid on Europe's Great Pictures קישורים חיצוניים ויקישיתוף מדיה וקבצים בנושא ברנרד ברנסון בוויקישיתוף 'ברנסון, ברנרד', בתוך: דב ליפץ (מרכז המערכת), נתן גורן [%D7%95%D7%90%D7%97%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D] (מערכת), יהדות ליטא, כרך ג, ספר א: "אישים", תל אביב: עם הספר, תשכ"ז, עמ' 129 (ספר יזכור לקהילת ליטא , בספריית העיר ניו יורק, תמונה 1327). Dictionary of Art Historians Villa I Tatti and Bernard Berenson Art as Existence

Gabriele Guercio - The MIT Press, 2006 https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%A0%D7%A8%D7%93_%D7%91...

Bernard Berenson moved to Florence in 1900, his study and work in Italian Renaissnace art supported by his patron, Isabella Stuart Gardner of Boston. Over the course of the following years, Berenson procured on her behalf many of the works of art now displayed in the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum in Boston. The villa which Berenson purchased as his home was Villa I Tatti. Upon his death, this was left to Harvard Univeristy, which maintains it as a reserach center for the study of Italian Renaissance art.

Personal life

Berenson was born Bernhard Valvrojenski in Butrimonys (now in Alytus district of Lithuania) to a Jewish family. They emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts from the Vilna Governorate of the Russian Empire in 1875, whereupon the family name was changed to "Berenson." The family was thought to be related to Isaac Abrabanel.[citation needed]

He attended the Boston University College of Liberal Arts as a freshman during 1883-84, but, unable to obtain instruction in Sanskrit from that institution, transferred to Harvard University for his sophomore year.[1] He graduated from Harvard and married Mary Smith, who became a notable art historian in her own right. Mary was the sister of Logan Pearsall Smith and of Alys Pearsall Smith, the first wife of Bertrand Russell. Mary had previously been married to barrister Frank Costelloe. Bernard Berenson was also involved in a long relationship with Belle da Costa Greene. Samuels (1987) mentions Mary's "reluctant acceptance (at times)" of this relationship.

Among his more surprising friendships was a long one with the American writer Ray Bradbury, who wrote about their friendship in The Wall Street Journal and in his book of essays, Yestermorrow. He was also a close friend and admirer of Natalie Barney.[citation needed]

His great-great-niece, Marisa Berenson, is an actress. Her sister, Berry Berenson, was an actress/photographer, and the wife of actor Anthony Perkins. Berry died in the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City.

Professional life

Among US collectors of the early 1900s, Berenson was regarded as the pre-eminent authority on Renaissance art. His verdict of authenticity increased a painting's value. While his approach remained controversial among European art historians and connoisseurs, he played a pivotal role as an advisor to several important American art collectors, such as Isabella Stewart Gardner, who needed help in navigating the complex and treacherous market of newly fashionable Renaissance art. In this respect Berenson's influence was enormous, while his 5% commission made him a wealthy man. Starting with his The Venetian Painters of the Renaissance with an Index to their Works (1894), his mix of connoisseurship and systematic approach proved immensely successful. In 1895 his Lorenzo Lotto, an Essay on Constructive Art Criticism won wide critical acclaim, notably by Heinrich Wölfflin. It was quickly followed by The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance (1896), that was lauded by William James for its innovative application of "elementary psychological categories to the interpretation of higher art". In 1897 Berenson added another work to his series of scholarly yet handy guides publishing The Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance. After that he devoted six years of pioneering work to what is widely regarded as his deepest and most substantial book, The Drawings of the Florentine Painters, which was published in 1903. In 1907 he published his The North Italian Painters of the Renaissance, where he expressed a devastating and still controversial judgement of Mannerist art, which may be related to his love for Classicism and his professed distaste for Modern Art. His early works were later integrated in his most famous book, The Italian Painters of the Renaissance (1930), which was widely translated and reprinted. He also published two volumes of journals, "Rumor and Reflection" and "Sunset and Twilight". He is also the author of Aesthetics and History and Sketch for a Self-portrait. His beautiful residence in Settignano near Florence, which has been called 'I Tatti' since at least the 17th century, is now the Harvard Center for Renaissance Studies. It houses his art collection and his personal library of books on art history and humanism, which Berenson regarded as his most enduring legacy. A spirited portrait of daily life at the Berenson "court" at I Tatti during the 1920s may be found in Sir Kenneth Clark's 1974 memoir, Another Part of the Wood. 'During WW2, barely tolerated by the Fascist authorities and, later on, by their German masters, Berenson remained at "I Tatti". When the frontline reached it at the end of the summer of 1944 he wrote in his diary, "Our hillside happens to lie between the principal line of German retreat along the Via Bolognese and a side road...We are at the heart of the German rearguard action, and seriously exposed.". Remarkably, under his supervision the villa remained unharmed. Also unharmed was the bulk of his collections, which had been moved to a villa at Careggi. However, Berenson's Florence apartment in the Borgo San Jacopo was destroyed with some of its precious contents during the German retreat from Florence [2] . Another memoir with personal reminiscences and photographs of Berenson's life in Italy before and after the war is Kinta Beevor's "A Tuscan Childhood" [New York: Vintage Books, 2000; c.1993].
The Allendale Nativity, which Berenson attributed to Titian.

Through a secret agreement in 1912, Berenson enjoyed a close relationship with Joseph Duveen, the period's most influential art dealer, who often relied heavily on Berenson's opinion to complete sales of works to prominent collectors who lacked knowledge of the field. Berenson was quiet and deliberating by nature, which sometimes caused friction between him and the boisterous Duveen. Their relationship ended on bad terms in 1937 after a dispute over a painting, the Allendale Nativity (a.k.a. the Adoration of the Shepherds now at the National Gallery in Washington), intended for the collection of Samuel H. Kress. Duveen was selling it as a Giorgione, but Berenson believed it to be an early Titian. The painting is now widely considered to be a Giorgione. Beside assisting Duveen, Berenson also consulted for other important art dealerships, such as London's Colnaghi and, after his breakup with Duveen, New York's Wildenstein.

In 1923, Berenson was called to give expert witness in a famous case brought by Andrée Hahn against Duveen. In 1920 Hahn wanted to sell a painting[3] that she believed to be a version of Leonardo's La belle ferronnière and whose authorship is still debated. Duveen publicly rejected Hahn's Leonardo attribution of the painting, which he had never seen. Consequently, Hahn sued him. In 1923 Hahn's painting was brought to Paris to be compared with the Louvre version. Duveen mustered Berenson's and other experts' support for his opinion, dismissing Hahn's painting as a copy. At the trial in New York in 1929, where the expert witnesses did not appear, the jury was not convinced by Berenson's Paris testimony, in part because, while under cross-examination there, he had been unable to recall the medium on which the picture was painted. It was also revealed that Berenson, as well as other experts who had testified in Paris, such as Roger Fry and Sir Charles Holmes, had previously provided paid expertises to Duveen. While Duveen, after a split verdict, ended up settling out of court with Hahn, the whole story damaged Berenson's reputation.

Berenson died at age 94 in Settignano, Italy.

As Renaissance scholarship has evolved, a number of Berenson's attributions are now believed to be incorrect. There is also ongoing speculation as to whether some of these misattributions were deliberate, since Berenson often had a considerable financial stake in the matter. Due to the strong subjective element in connoisseurship, such accusations remain hard to either disprove or substantiate.

==Correspondence

2006 saw the publication of the noted British historian Hugh Trevor-Roper's letters to Berenson in the period 1947-1960, in a book entitled Letters from Oxford: Hugh Trevor-Roper to Bernard Berenson, edited by Richard Davenport-Hines, published by Weidenfeld & Nicholson.

==Works

* * Venetian Painters of the Renaissance (1894)

• * Lorenzo Lotto: An Essay in Constructive Art Criticism (1895)
• * Florentine Painters of the Renaissance (1896)
• * Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance (1897)
• * The Sense of Quality: Study and Criticism of Italian Art (1901; second series, 1902)
• * The Drawings of the Florentine Painters (1903), his masterpiece[citation needed]
• * North Italian Painters of the Renaissance (1907)
• * A Sienese Painter of the Franciscan Legend (1910)
• * Venetian Painting in America: The Fifteenth Century (New York, 1916)
• * Essays in the Study of Sienese Painting (New York, 1918)
• * The Italian Painters Of The Renaissance (1952)London & New York Phaidon Publishers Inc.
• * Rumor and Reflection (New York, 1952)
• * Seeing and Knowing New York Graphic Society, Ltd., (1953)
• * The Passionate Sightseer (New York, 1960)
• * Sunset and Twilight (New York, 1963)

Most of his books were published in the United States and went through many editions.

References

1. ^ Boston University College of Liberal Arts Class o